EtherCAT Tool

Using the `ethercat` Tool

5.1 Displaying Help

ethercat --help
ethercat slaves --help
ethercat pdos --help

Most commands support the following selection options:

-m <master>: Select a master by number.
-p <position>: Select a slave by physical position.
-a <alias>: Select a slave by alias address.

Refer to ethercat <command> --help on the target system for the exact options.

5.2 Displaying Masters and Slaves

ethercat master
ethercat slaves

Typical slave output contains the position, alias, state, and device name:

0  0:0  PREOP  +  Servo Drive

Display detailed information:

ethercat slaves -v
ethercat config

5.3 Setting an Alias Address

Set the alias of the slave at position 0 to 1:

ethercat alias -p 0 1

The alias is written to the slave EEPROM. Confirm the target position before running the command to avoid modifying the wrong device.

5.4 Displaying PDOs

ethercat pdos -p 0
ethercat cstruct -p 0

ethercat pdos displays the slave's current PDO assignment. ethercat cstruct generates PDO entries and Sync Manager structures that can be used as a reference by a C application.

The automatically generated structures reflect only the current device configuration. Check the indexes, subindexes, bit lengths, directions, and Sync Manager numbers against the slave manual.